I think it's reasonable to be prepared for something like a natural disaster, where there is some lag time between the disaster and rebuilding infrastructure. Sandy is a good example. In such a situation I'd be less concerned about massive stocks of food, and more concerned with looters, ensuring the pipes don't freeze, where my pets are, etc. Immediate concerns.

Stuff like saving grain seeds... that's a bit over the top. That's more like rebuilding society again, and that takes a bit more than just stocking up or setting up a plot of land for your rows of wheat.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

I watch the doomsday prepper shows, so I know where the stockpiles are kept. Learn their defenses and exploit their weakness' (mainly gullibility). Because, out of all the doomsday fears throughout human history, OURS is real!

Three months food in the winter pantry is not a stock pile of food..I got into dried foods for a cooler free BM. Then though I had better try this stuff before TTITD.. There are a few trick to learn cooking from dry.. The rocket stove is for BM.. I even added an oven and warming surface..No empty faul containers to take home.. Keep the dry food in reusable containers.. No packaging to haul outSeed saving has been in my family for many many years.. They still save and germinate oats corn and hay seed on the family farm. Some long lost hippies in south Or. have the weed seeds I want plant.. My Grand daughter found the address for me..

Flint and other small camp stuff go in the van at all times.. If I get my dumb ass lost I can light the spare tire(black smoke)and find something to eat on. Some people make a wrong turn with these new GPS's and end up dead. Happens every year. Lite a smoky fire and sit still.. They may point and laugh when they find you.. That will be better than dead..

BBadger wrote:I think it's reasonable to be prepared for something like a natural disaster, where there is some lag time between the disaster and rebuilding infrastructure. Sandy is a good example. In such a situation I'd be less concerned about massive stocks of food, and more concerned with looters, ensuring the pipes don't freeze, where my pets are, etc. Immediate concerns.

Stuff like saving grain seeds... that's a bit over the top. That's more like rebuilding society again, and that takes a bit more than just stocking up or setting up a plot of land for your rows of wheat.

That's one thing that bothers me about the extremists. Society rebuilds itself. It doesn't end. Geez, look at the tsunami in Indonesia, that made Sandy look like a spring shower. A 1/4 million people died. Now those areas are pretty much back to normal.

If there's anything good about this, it's kicking people out of their ruts and teaching them to appreciate the simple stuff. But not sex with monkeys.

Living in earthquake country and non glass at Burning Man. I use half gallon jar set in coffee cans with spray foam to store dry foods. I have an old bread box to convert to hold a apothecary of foods to the playa.. Quart gars with a spray foam shock absorber.

trilobyte wrote:...If you're prepping, what 'level' are you prepping for? Disaster (short-term outages and breakdowns of society, ie Katrina/Sandy)? Apocalypse (longer-term outages and breakdowns of society, ie Mad Max/Revolution/The Road/etc)? Zombie apocalypse (or for that matter any really good pandemic, ie human-to-human transfer bird flu or ebola)? My girlfriend and I are probably in pretty good shape at the disaster level, but not as much for a full-blown apocalypse or zombies...

Hey, it could happen. Though I generally think an airborne mutation of bird flu or ebola (or nuclear fallout, Fukushima-style) is far more likely, the net result is pretty much the same - population centers become targets and liabilities, and in addition to stockpiling supplies you're battling to stave off infection and exposure.

TomServo wrote:Preparing for Burning Man, is probably the best practice the average joe could get, in preparation for the next armageddon. I'm suprised nothings been said..unless I missed it..about Zombies.

BM, is my escape from disaster response - im lucky enough to get to clean up other peoples messes for a living. So when I read your line I snortled milk through my nose. Because if i spent the post apocalypse like I do at BM. I would either be trashed, or working - not a bad mix when you look at it.

RE: " A three months supply of food at any given time in stores..." This is not so, while there is enough food in the entire system, from the field, in the processing plants and in cold storage - the truckers are the Achilles heel in the system. Without transport almost every metropolitan area would be empty in 3 days. Without a constant flow of truckers, trains as well as the merchant marines our nation grinds to a halt and starves in short order. Think of whatever regional disaster would cripple transportation or a nationwide fuel shortage. Thats the most likely threat. Where do you think the truck driver or train engineer will be in a nation wide or global catastrophe - they are not going to be delivering frozen pizzas to Safeway I guarantee it.

ranger magnum wrote:The Anarchist Cookbook is a good place to start. Not all of whats in it is applicable to an acopolyptic future, and a lot of its content is out dated, but there is good stuff to know in it.

Dont bother with reprints of the book; much has been edited out. Try and find an original from 1971.